Sea wall



Jan. 3, w SQHLUETER 1,893,003

SEA WALL Filed Jan. 25, 1932 1 INVENTOQ HENQY WScHLUETEQ WfM ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 3, 1 933 lJNITED STATES PATENT OFFEQF.

SEA WALL Application filed January 25, 1932. Serial No. 588,513.

My invention relates to concrete construction of seal walls and other semi-submerged structures such as bulkheads, piers, breakwaters and the like, and the term sea wall,

as used herein, is to be understood as inclusive of such structures. The-sea wall, the subject matter of my present invention, consists of a number of units, each unit being separately constructed of concrete or similar material .of hollow construction and floated into position for building the wall, the units being joined tog-ether as hereinafter described. In constructing a sea wall of the character referred to, the units after being floated intoplace are weighted with sand or other material and the wall is formed by a step by step operation of floating one unit end to end to the last unit in place. Due to the tide and current this is ordinarily a rather difiicult task and particularly is it so to join the units by means of a clove tail or interlocking construction. I have found that this joining of the units may be greatly facilitated by forming the units with angularly disposed ends so that, as the unit being added to the wall is weighted and moved downwardly into place, the tendency of the unit is to remain in sliding engagement with the angularly disposed or sloping wall of the last fined unit.

Another object of my invention is to form the interlocking elements of the units so that the same are not interlocked until the unit being lowered into place is about to be seated on the bed of the river or ocean in which the same is being constructed. A further object is .toprovide unit connecting means of simple construction, and to provide such connection I use a pile anchored in one unit and extending into the bed or floor of the ocean, the upper end of the pile being engaged by the succeeding unit as it is seated on the bed of the ocean.

It is a further object of my invention to T so form the units that when joined together recesses are formed in the face of the wall so as to break the action of the waves against the wall and thereby minimize the damage or destruction of the wall.

7 Other objects and advantages will appear hereinafter from the following description and drawing.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, which is for illustrative purposes only,

Fig. 1 is a face view of a sea wall or breakwater embodying a form of my invention, parts of the wall being broken away to better illustrate the construction of the same as completed in part and during the building of the wall;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional plan view on line XQ-XQ of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a further enlarged fragmentary sectional plan view of the joint and locking means between two units.

Fig. l is an end View of the sea wall during the course of construction;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of a sea wail built according to my invention prior to placing the top structure in place; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view of a modified form of my invention.

Elie sea wall in the forms shown is formed of a series of interconnecting and interlocking units indicated at 10 which in the form shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive are octagonal in section plan at their base. The outer faces 11 of the units from a point indicated by the line 12 slope inwardly and upwardly as indicated at 13 and the faces 14 of the corresponding units form substantially V- shaped recesses 15 therebetwcen which break up the waves striking the face of the wall. If desired, loose rock may be placed on the sea 85 side of the wall in the if-shaped recesses 15 as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l, such recesses forming anchorage for the rock which remains in place much better than where rock is used against a straight wall with unbroken 9c face. Each unit in the form shown is provided at one end with a dovetailed recess in dicated at 20 having downwardly converging side walls to the floor :21 of the unit. Each unit also has on its opposite end a similarly 95 formed dovetail indicated at 25, the dovetails being correspondingly shaped to the dovetail recesses.

It is to be understood that any preferred form of reinforcement may be used, as for example, such as shown at 26 in Fig. 3; also that the walls of the units may be braced in any suitable manner as by members 27L 7 The manner of building the Wall is as follows The units may be seated on the bed of y the floor of the ocean or stream in which the wall is being built and referring to'Fig. 1, such units are indicated by the letters A,

B and C. 7 It will be understood that the units in place are weighted down by sand indicated at 28 and that each one is tied in place after location by means of a pile 29 whichis driven through a hole 80 formed in the floor of the unit at the bottom of the dovetailed recess. For'driving these piles in place, it is understood that a coupling 31 is used for supporting an upper eXtensionSQ of the pile to facilitate the driving of the pile 29, a removable frame, indicated at 33, of any desired construction being fitted into the dovetailed recess during the pile driving operation, the coupling 31, upper extension 32, and frame 33 being removed after the pile 29 has been set. Thenert unit is added by floating a unit, such as indicated at D, into engagement with the end of the last unit in the wall,

andfor insuring or assisting in the units be ing properly placed, the end walls of the units are sloped or angularly disposed as indicated at 35 and 36, the dovetails 25 and the dovetail grooves or slots being similarly formed. It Wlll be readily seen that, the floating unit having been brought into end contact with the fixed unit, any tendency of the floating unit to move away from such engagement will be compensated for by the sloping walls of the respective units. As the unit D is weightedby filling with water or sand or other material, it descends into place and the upper end of the pile 29 is engaged in a recess 37 formed in the lower end of the dovetail member on the unit"D. Further downward movement of'the unit D brings the dovetail members into engagement with the converging walls of the recesses whereby such members are guided into proper alignment with the other units forming the wall. This is an important feature as it will be understood that, while it is necessary to bring the end of the floating unit into engagement with the end of the fixed unit, the floating unit may be laterally out of alignment without any ill effect as theconvergin g walls of the dovetail and recess willalign'the units as above de scribed. The interlocking connection of the units, as above described, is of such'acharacter'that should the ocean bed be uneven,

even tothe 'extentthat the" outer end of the unit last floated into place isabove the bed, the connectionis amply strong to suspend the unit until the bed below the unit is filled in. After the units have been placed in position as above described, it is understood that any suitable slab or other concrete construction indicated at 40, noted by dotted lines in Fig. 4-, may be poured on the top of the units, therebymaking the solid unitary structure of the wall. This slab 40 is preferably formed with a curved face 41 forminga continuation of the sloping face 13 of the wall to turn back waves should they reach such height.

With reference to the form shown in Fig. 6, such wall has the same general character as that of'the wall hereinabove described with the exception that the sectional plan of the units 42 is of circular shape instead of the octagonal shape described with reference to the preceding form, and that wells indicated the floor 45 to add buoyancy to the units during the floating operation. I

It is to be understood that while I have herein described and illustrated certain preferred forms of my invention, the inventlon is not limited to the precise construction described above, but includes within its scope whatever changes fairly come within the spirit of the appended claims.

WVhat I claim is: 1. Asea wall comprising a plurality of hollow units arranged end to end,said units having their corresponding end faces angularly disposed, and interengaging locking means on the respective units, sa1d locking means consisting of interengaging male an female members on the respective units, said female members having a downwardly converging dove-tail opening and said male members being correspondinglyshaped.

2. A. sea wall comprising a plurality of hollow units arranged end to end, said units having their corresponding end faces angularly disposed, and means for connecting the' units together, said connecting means con slstmgof a pile mounted in the end of one unit extending downwardly therefrom into the supporting earth structure, and walls forming a recess in the adjacent unit for receiving the upper end of the pile. V

' 8. A sea wall comprising a plurality-of multifaced units arranged end to end, and

means for interlocking the adjacent ends ofthe units together, the faces of the units together forming substantially V-shaped recesses in the wall, the face of the units between said recesses sloping inwardly and upwardly to the top of the units. p

4. A sea wall comprising'a' plurality of multifaced units arranged end to end, and means for interlocking the adjacent ends of theunits together, the faces of the units together' forming substantially 'Vssh'aped recesses in the wall, the'face of the units between said recesses sloping inwardly and upwardly to the top of the units and a longitudinal member connecting the top of said units having an outer face forming a curved continuation of the sloping faces of said units.

5. A sea wall comprising a plurality of hollow units arranged end to end, a pile mounted in each unit extending downwardly therefrom into the earth structure, walls forming a recess in the adjacent unit to receive the upper end of the pile and vertically extending interlocking members on the abutting ends of said units.

6. A sea wall comprising a plurality of hollow units arranged end to end, a pile mounted in each unit extending downwardly therefrom into the earth structure, walls forming a recess in the adjacent unit to receive the upper end of the pile and vertically extending interlocking members on the abutting ends of said units, said interlocking members being arranged to interengage on downward movement of one unit with respect to an adjacent unit.

7. A sea wall comprising a plurality of units arranged end to end, interlocking means on said units, and a centrally disposed pile member at each joint between said units engaged by said units and extending downwardly from said units into the earth structure.

8. A sea wall comprising a plurality of concrete units arranged end to end, and means for interlocking said units together consisting of a downwardly converging tapered dove tail on one unit arranged to engage a similarly shaped recess in the other unit.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 18th day of January, 1982.

HARRY W. SCHLUETER. 

